BDS

This past weekend in the Montpellier, France, over 100 activists from 9 countries gathered for the first ever European Forum Against Agrexco. Delegates from Italy, UK, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Palestine joined the French organizers for two full days of workshops aimed at strengthening the boycott campaign against the Israeli agricultural export giant.

On November 15, 1988 the Palestine National Council (P.N.C.) meeting in Algiers proclaimed the Palestinian Declaration of Independence that created the independent state of Palestine. Today the State of Palestine is bilaterally recognized de jure by about 130 states. Palestine has de facto diplomatic recognition from most of Europe. It was only massive political pressure applied by the U.S. government that prevented European states from according to Palestine de jure diplomatic recognition.

Palestine is a member state of the League of Arab States and of the Islamic Conference Organization. When the International Court of Justice in The Hague—the so-called World Court of the United Nations System—conducted its legal proceedings on Israel’s apartheid wall on the West Bank, the World Court invited the State of Palestine to participate in the proceedings. In other words, the International Court of Justice recognized the State of Palestine.

This time Max Keiser and co-host, Stacy Herbert, look at the scandals of swindled nuns, bounty hunters for small time fraud and Irish banks in a ‘league of their own.’ In the second half of the show, Max talks to economist, Shir Hever of the Alternative Information Center, about the Boycott-Divestment-Sanctions movement and about the economics of occupation.

Tirades against Noam Chomsky never cease to amaze me. And I’m not talking about the kind of criticisms of the man that come from Alan Dershowitz and other apologists for Israeli crimes; I mean from critics of Israel who support Palestinian rights.

There are a number of common gripes about Professor Chomsky. The leading one is that he is actually a Zionist and “left gatekeeper” who, despite appearances, really seeks to limit debate on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Another, part and parcel of the first, is that he denies the power of the Israeli Lobby and wrongly believes that Israel is a strategic asset of the U.S. A third and more recent criticism is that he is opposes to a boycott against Israel and considers activists who support the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BSD) campaign “hypocritical”.

The decision of the Methodist Church to endorse the BDS Campaign, has not alone been greeted with huge respect by those concerned with the near unique plight of Palestinians, attacked, evicted, walled in or excluded, land divested for sixty two years, but has also restored faith in what believers are : adherents to peaceful justice wherever the opposite is found.

In the light of the silence of the Archbishop of Canterbury on Palestine and Iraq since moving in to Lambeth Palace – added to his deafening muteness after the acts of kidnapping, murder, piracy, theft which befell the aid flotilla on 31st. May – your stance is faith restoring, in both senses of the word, for those of all faiths and of none.

Shir Hever is an economic researcher in the Alternative Information Center, a Palestinian-Israeli organization active in Jerusalem and Beit-Sahour. Researching the economic aspect of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories, some of his research topics include international aid to the Palestinians and Israel, the effects of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories on the Israeli economy, and the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against Israel. He is a frequent speaker on the topic of the economy of the Israeli occupation.

That was the heading on the leaflet distributed at the Iper Coop in Rome, Italy on July 9, 2010, marking the fifth anniversary of the launch campaign for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against Israel. While the systematic demolition of Palestinian homes by Israel continues, the Italian hypermarket instead sells colorful and cheerful plastic toy houses, in addition to children’s chairs, tables and slides, produced by the Israeli company Keter and marketed in Italy by Giochi Preziosi and Grand Soleil.

On Tuesday, June 29, Naomi Klein made a surprise appearance at Queers Against Israeli Apartheid (QUAIA)’s Pride in Our Politics Cabaret. Making the links between the police repression of protest over the G20 and the slanderous attacks that groups such as QUAIA have experienced, Klein explained: “There has been a very powerful attack on freedom of expression in this country. A McCarthyite campaign against people who fall outside of the Harper government’s version of what we should be saying or doing.”

The quality of this video is not great – but the audio is worth a listen.

Palestinian civil society has called on Elton John to respect their boycott call and cancel his June 17th concert in Tel Aviv. If he does, he’ll be joining Santana and Gil-Scott Heron, who recently canceled their spring concerts in Israel. Bob Dylan was scheduled to play Tel Aviv on May 27, 2010, but as of this writing that date is no longer posted on his tour schedule. Continue reading →

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The Golden Rule

“That which is hateful to you do not do to another ... the rest (of the Torah) is all commentary, now go study.” - Rabbi Hillel

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Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.